If you are planning to to travel from Koh Lanta to Phuket it is a good idea to book your tickets in advance. This is a busy route, particularly in high season, and the boats have limited passenger capacity. Few holiday makers choose to take the longer 10 hour trip to Phuket by bus.

Journey to Phuket

Three things you need to know about the journey from Koh Lanta to Phuket: where the ferry departs from, where the ferry arrives, and which company provides the ferry service.

Departure Point: All four services depart from Ban Saladan Pier in the North of Koh Lanta Yai, which is the island where where most of the resorts are located.

Arrival Point: All four services arrive at Rassada Pier which is 5.5 km to the south east of the Central Market in Phuket Town and 18.7 km from Patong Beach.

Service Providers:

Chaokoh Travel: The 08.00 and 13.00 services are provided by Chaokoh Travel in a modern 250 passenger capacity boat with a shop, and toilets.

Tiger Line Ferry: The 16.00 service is provided by the Tiger Line Ferry company which uses smaller and faster boats with a capacity of between 134 and 180 seats depending upon which of their fleet of 5 high speed ferries they are using when you travel. Tigerline ferries have air-conditioned cabins and outdoor seating on the upper levels. If you book online a snack is included in the ticket price.

Satun Pakbara SPC: This company operates the 13.00 departure which arrives at 14.30. This is a speedboat service.

Phuket is a popular destination for beach holidays

Travel to Phuket via Trang

The alternative route is to make the short sea crossing from Koh Lanta Noi (the smaller of the two Koh Lanta islands) to the mainland and take a bus into Trang. From Trang there are bus services to Phuket. The journey from Koh Lanta to the bus stop in Trang town takes around 5 hours and the bus from Trang to Phuket takes a further 5 hours.

Travel Tip: Travelling from Koh Lanta to Phuket via Trang is cheaper than travelling direct, but the journey takes 7 to 8 hours longer, depending on the connection times, than taking a ferry direct from Koh Lanta to Phuket.

Ferry Pier in Koh Lanta

All four ferry and speedboat services depart from Ban Saladan Pier in the North of Koh Lanta Yai (the main island in Koh Lanta).

Ferry Pier in Phuket

Ferries and speedboat service all arrive at Rassada Pier to the South of Phuket Town.

Taxi and Bus services in Phuket

There are two ways to travel from Rassada Pier to other destinations in Phuket: the cheapest way is to travel in Phuket Town and take a shared taxi, and the more expensive (but quicker) option is to take a taxi or minivan direct from Rassada Pier.

Option 1: Travel into Phuket Town and take a bus from there to your final destination in Phuket. Destinations in the South of Phuket Island, such as Patong Beach you should head towards Phuket Town Bus Terminal 1 (see map below). To reach this bus station from Rassada Pier either take a taxi direct from the pier or for cheap travel walk 10 minutes from the pier to the main road and take a pink songthaew (pick up truck shared taxi) which will terminate at Phuket Town Bus Terminal 1.

Option 2: Take a minivan or taxi direct from Rassada Pier in Phuket to your destination in Phuket. The cost varies depending on the provider. You need to negotiate a price. Minivans are cheaper and the price will depend on where you are going and how many of you are travelling. The trick is to stay calm and agree a price before setting off.